For someone who picks up her fiddle a little less often than my former music teacher would like to hear, these gatherings are always enthralling. I once found myself staying in the same hotel in Kirkwall where local fiddle and keyboard duo Eric Linklater and Jennifer Austin – Jeneric – were entertaining a group of visitors. I really enjoyed the evening, and it was great recently to see that an original work from Jen and Eric, The Swim, was nominated in December’s Scots Trad Music Awards.

The quality of Orkney traditional music was there for all to see at the awards in Dundee, as the Orkney Folk Festival picked up the award for event of the year, while another Orcadian nominee, Aidan Moodie, was on the stage with Mànran as part of a tremendous line-up of entertainment on the night.

Given all this, it was no surprise last week to hear that one Orcadian was taking over from another as the artistic director of the Scots Fiddle Festival, which was recently held in Edinburgh.

Graham Rorie, yet another Orcadian nominee in the Scots Trad Music Awards – for Musician of the Year – is taking on the role from fellow islander Jeana Leslie.

The success of Orkney on the traditional music stage is something that islanders can be rightly proud of, but it doesn’t come around by chance. The importance of free music tuition being provided in schools across Scotland cannot be underestimated, something that the SNP government has ensured. And earlier this year we announced £9.5 million of funding to the Youth Music Initiative, ensuring that every pupil in Scotland can access a year of free music tuition by the time they leave primary school.

The importance that a country places on its cultural heritage is key to giving folk confidence in the future as much as it is about having pride about the past.

It was another Trad Award winner, Scots Singer of the Year Iona Fyfe, who highlighted the importance of fair funding for Scotland’s artistic community during her speech at October’s SNP conference in her home city of Aberdeen. Supporting the original resolution on Scotland’s independence strategy, Iona highlighted how National Collective, the grassroots group that was part of the Yes campaign ahead of the 2014 referendum, had been described as ‘the most significant cultural voice’ to emerge in that debate.

The value that the SNP puts on the arts and culture was in no doubt when Humza Yousaf announced a doubling of funding for the sector to £100 million in his keynote speech at the same conference.

So, whether you are part of Orkney’s creative scene, or simply enjoy the creativity going on around you, be proud of your culture, and I hope you can head into 2024 in good tune.